Rock partridges are sedentary birds and spend the winter in Switzerland too, though deep snow cover compels them to move down to valley bottoms or up to high altitudes with patches that are clear of snow.

Reproduction

These birds nest on the ground, usually at the base of trees or rocks. The female hatches the eggs alone. The chicks can ﬂy after 10 to 20 days and are fully grown at 50 to 60 days.

Nesting population

3,000 to 4,000 breed­ ing pairs. Rock partridge numbers can be expected to fall as more and more farming land in mountain regions is abandoned.

Red kite (CHF1,90 stamp)

Milvus milvus

Size

61 cm

Diet

These birds scour the ground from the air for small mammals or carrion. They will also snatch freshly caught mice from carrion crows.

Habitat

In the mid-20th century, red kites were mainly found in northern Switzerland, but now they also inhabit the fringes of the Alps, some alpine valleys and the area round Lake Geneva. Migratory behaviour nowadays, red kites tend to stay in their territory all year round, whereas previously almost all of them migrated to the Iberian Peninsula for the winter. Reproduction These birds build their eyries in trees and line them with wool, moss, hair, paper and rags. Clutches comprise two to three eggs. The young take 30 days to hatch and leave the nest after a further

50 to 55 days.

Nesting population

At present, there are 1,200 to 1,500 breeding pairs in Switzerland. Species numbers have made a strong recovery, thanks to their protection throughout most of Europe and an abundant supply of food.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Postcard with first day cancellation over stamp of 0.55€ from the stamp series ‘German Lighthouses", posted on July, 7 2011.

(A very special thanks to my best friend Igor Adolph)

Arngast

The special postage stamps with motifs of lighthouses "Arngast" and "Dahmeshöved" are part of the series as "beacons" which draws attention in no particular order to the diversity of German lighthouses.
In about 4.5 km away from South Beach is located in Wilhelmshaven Jadebusen Arngast the lighthouse. Since its commissioning in 1910, this maritime signpost is in continuous operation. The name dates back to the 17th Century by heavy floods destroyed the village Arngast back. Lighthouse keepers are on the tower have long ceased to operate: In the late 1960s displaced technical innovations, the three guards who had succeeded in 14-day shifts on Arngast. The 36-meter-high lighthouse is part of the traffic safety system at the Jade. The white light of the fire has a range of 21.0 nautical miles (approximately 40 km). The Waterways and Shipping Administration Federal operates the tower, which was incorporated in 2003 in the list of cultural monuments / monuments.

Details about the stamp:

Wet adhesive stamps for 55 cents each in a 10-sheet, suitable for the franking of letters up to 20g standard size of individual mark: 35 x 35 mm.

This stamp is a special postage stamp from the series as "beacons".
The motif was designed by Prof. John Graf of Dortmund.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Institute of Pupils of the Army, created in 1911, is one of the projects achieved more and more of the republican regime and perennials will celebrate next month of May, 100 years old. This centennial means clearly that men are not exhausted in what they do, when the work is.

Initially called the Institute of Professional Pupils Army Land and Sea, founded with the purpose of training citizens useful to his country, continues today as before, to be a reference in the Portuguese educational, thus constituting a clear demonstration of how, over a century, every generation Republican, even during the most severe crises in the country, as of 1915, were able to understand the value and relevance of the objectives of its founders.

And what are these objectives? Provide training for technical and pedagogical nature, that the country desperately needs, allowing students a professional qualification certified to practice a profession, but allowing them at the same time assimilating a core knowledge curriculum with courses that are open to the post -secondary or higher education.

The unique internal organization of the PSI creates, in turn, students in a relatively strong sense of belonging to the institution, developing in them a solid body and a spirit of commitment to the ideals of comradeship, friendship and solidarity , thus giving the institution a cohesion that enriches their educational activity and also identifies the training school for pro-social values, which were, therefore, Republicans figured the objectives of its founders.

Although the integrated supervision of the Army, the courses of the Elementary and Secondary Education, held at PSI, operate a boarding and day schools, and are, for all intents and purposes, considered equivalent to corresponding courses of the official teaching of the Ministry of Education, with the entry into the institution open, without any exclusive, all young men and women of school age, the conditions required for registration.

The structure of vocational courses is translatable into a set of specialties in the best interest of the community, so the Institute is sought with special motivation students from various districts of the country, autonomous regions and PALOP (African Countries of Portuguese Official Language) and can therefore say that it is representative of a pedagogical concept with a unique experience in the Portuguese educational landscape, linking the act of formation, simultaneously, aggregating a huge virtual and transnational.

In conclusion, it can be assumed that all the assumptions that justified, then the creation of an educational institution which met and satisfied the needs of a quality technical education, now known as Institute of Pupils of the Army, remain fully alive, being translated into a valuable and intense educational activity for a century, by this institution, always at the service of noble values ​​proclaimed by the Republic in 1910, and has thus its own right, historical right to noble heritage of the men who knew how to drive large vision and to develop a school that fosters such skills and talents to build a better future for Portugal.

Francisco Alves Antonio Rose
Director of the Institute of Pupils Army

Technical Details

Date of Issue: 25 May 2011

Values: Stamps of €0,32; €1,00+ miniature sheet with one stamp of €2,50

Monday, September 19, 2011

Founded in 1911 by Decree of the Republic, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) has historically been one of the first institutions in this vocation museums internationally. Representative of the republican ideals of democratization of access to education and culture, the museum was the result of division of the former National Museum of Fine Arts in two separate institutions: the National Museum of Ancient Art, which inherited the collections before 1850, and the National Museum Contemporary Art, which incorporated all the artworks after this date, then chronological considered the hinge of modernity.

Throughout the first decades of the twentieth century, the collection of MNAC was enlarged through various acquisitions, including works by students Academy of Fine Arts and the Legacy Valmor application, which allowed the acquisition of works at the Salons of the Annual Art Guild and the National Society of Fine Arts.The collection thus reveals the artistic creation of the various generations that constituted modernity, a journey that begins with Romanticism, Naturalism is particularized in, takes his consciousness in modernism and with the abstract, the Surrealists and Neo-realists reaches fullness, though, for political and social reasons, these movements tend to stay on the sidelines of international contexts.

Installed since 1911, the property of the former Convent of San Francisco City, an area adjacent to the Academy and College Fine Arts, the museum was completely renovated in 1994 according to plans of French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, following the fire in 1988 affected the historical area of Chiado. This privileged location in one of the most iconic meeting places for intellectuals and modern artists, was institutionally assumed name with the Chiado Museum, adopted in 1994.
After the renovation of the museum, the contemporary has given special attention, gradually overcoming the chronological limits of the 1950s. Currently, the collection of MNAC - Museu do Chiado, an institution under the Ministry of Culture through the Institute of Museums and Conservation, has more than 4500 pieces, with seminal works of major artists and movements from 1850 to the present, covering the vast field of painting and sculpture, through drawing, photography and new media. In a process of continuous updating, the museum seeks to monitor and integrate contemporary manifestations, encouraging the creation and reflecting on their contexts of production. Parallel to the study and dissemination of its collections of modern and contemporary Portuguese art, the MNAC - Museu do Chiado promotes exhibitions of national and international, as well as a number of other educational and cultural activities.